


oh nothing else compares

by doubtthestars



Category: Football RPF
Genre: Feels, Gen, Retirement, miroslav klose & the nt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-30
Updated: 2016-03-30
Packaged: 2018-05-30 01:14:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6401983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doubtthestars/pseuds/doubtthestars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He tells himself he doesn't miss it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	oh nothing else compares

**Author's Note:**

> just a small little drabble about Miro and Mario and getting older and hope for the future. title comes from [clocks by coldplay](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d020hcWA_Wg)

He tells himself he doesn’t miss it, tells himself the phantom awareness of the field is only a recollection of the many times he’s been on it for club and country. His smile is soft to counterpoint the eruption in the stands as Toni smashes the ball into the net neatly, with the precision Miro had always seen in him. It doesn’t escape him that most of the white-clad players currently playing were not his peers when he was part of the team. It doesn’t bother him as much as he thought it would.

The loss isn’t through the ball at their feet, nor the people chanting their names. It is the belonging that had never stayed quite as well as with the national team than a country or a home. Time was inevitable, and Miro didn’t regret retiring. It freed him unexpectedly. He had quiet moments with his wife, had louder moments with the twins, and found more of himself, more than the football that had governed him for so long. It became a soft background noise, the roar of stadiums, the feel of new boots, the pitches and nets.

He had realized that just like the rest of them, he had grown along the way as well. Thomas became a co-captain and Miro learned to indulge. Marco had comes back from injury and Miro understood why solitude was meant for small doses. Bastian’s hair greyed a little bit more each season and Miro let go of the fear of missing his children’s memories.

Cheers shook the stands, the crowd of Munich up on their feet for Mario. He lets himself be a spectator, get swept away by the emotion, the joy of seeing his friend and countryman score with his head to the sky.

Thomas bounds over to him, slaps his face about as if to remind him that the moment was real. The head-in was excellent as he watches the screen replay, getting the best of the Italian defense and he laughs, a short chuckle. The doubt surrounding the team was evident, though friendlies had never been their strong suit but that right there, Thomas as captain, Mario scoring, being up two against Italy. It was something they had done all on their own. They didn’t need Per, Philipp or him to get there. All they needed was a bit of faith and they could accomplish it all.

**Author's Note:**

> I told myself I wasn't going to write this because it wasn't going to come out right and honestly, it feels like a drop in the ocean of what I feel right now. But Miro was there!! and I broke like a soggy cracker. 
> 
> I love die nationalmannschaft and I'll never get over Miroslav Klose but sometimes our team makes dumb mistakes and sometimes they make history.


End file.
